President Bush is making a new push for Middle East peace. VOA White House correspondent Paula Wolfson reports he is calling for an international conference this year to move the peace process forward, and is pledging to increase aid to the Palestinian government of Mahmoud Abbas.

President George W. Bush on Monday called for a Middle East peace conference later this year and pledged $190 million in new aid to the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A suicide truck bomber ripped through a busy commercial district in Kirkuk on Monday afternoon, leaving a large crater surrounded by dozens of mutilated bodies, police and military officials said.